The New York Times
IN AMERICA; A DREADFUL GAME
Bob Herbert
The Republicans didn't know how to play their hand. They had the videotape, which was the equivalent of, say, two pairs, or maybe three of a kind. But they got all excited and bet as if they had four aces.
Bill Clinton was on the other side of the table doing what he does best. Surviving. The public viewed the videotape with a collective shrug of its shoulders. Bill Clinton reached for the pile of chips and pulled them to his side of the table.
So the dreadful poker game in Washington continues.
On the one hand you have a President who is so reckless and untrustworthy he is not fit to hold the office. On the other you have a Republican Party, dominated by a snarling, vicious pack of right-wingers, that is willing to do almost anything to seize complete control of the Government.
There is not a statesman in sight. Much of the important business of the nation is going untended. The public wants the crisis resolved but neither side seems willing to take any of the important steps that might lead to a timely resolution.
The President not only lied to a Federal grand jury, thus handing his enemies a potentially legitimate impeachment issue, but he continues to lie. And Newt Gingrich, who has taken over the impeachment process and turned it into a hanging party, made clear yesterday that he would be happy to drag the process out for a long, long time.
Mr. Gingrich, an ethical basket case who has proved to be even more reckless with the reins of government than Mr. Clinton (and who would like to be President himself), said:
"I don't understand how people can rush to a solution before they finish the investigation. I just think there's an awful lot we don't know yet and there's an awful lot of evidence that hasn't been gathered yet, and that people need to allow the process to go forward in an orderly manner and not assume that they know what the final outcome will be either way."
Mr. Gingrich and his blatant partisanship come hard on the heels of the terminally prurient Kenneth Starr. Bill Clinton has always been blessed with the best of enemies.
What we have here is a sick situation. The country would be better off if Mr. Clinton were not the President, but as Bob Dole said, "I don't see anybody packing over there." And the voters, quite rightly, don't want the likes of Kenneth Starr and Newt Gingrich determining who can or can't stay in the White House.
The Republicans have a habit of overplaying their hands. When the party took control of Congress in 1994 it managed to come to the crazy conclusion that the nation had voted for a right-wing revolution. And Mr. Gingrich found himself soundly ridiculed the following year when he let it be known that he had allowed a perceived snub on the Presidential jet to play a role in a budget crisis that led to a Government shutdown.
There is no one to honestly root for in this sordid drama. Mr. Clinton, with his lies and his deceptions, his twisted values, his recklessness and incredible self-absorption, in effect treats everyone, even his closest aides and advisers, the way he treated Monica Lewinsky.
Kenneth Starr is a nightmare out of Kafka. And Mr. Gingrich, who now holds center stage, is no more fit to hold high public office than the man he presumes to judge.
Behind Mr. Starr and Mr. Gingrich is the rest of the Republican Party. It's a party of dangerous extremes that at times has given aid and comfort to the militia movement and the National Rifle Association, has tried to undermine popular programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, has pushed policies that are anti-urban, anti-poor, anti-women, anti-gay and anti-consumer, and has consistently favored the interests of the very wealthy and the great corporations over those of ordinary working men and women.
Perhaps now the public will see clearly the essential meanspiritedness that runs like a virus through much of the G.O.P.
As for Mr. Clinton, instead of laying the groundwork for America's advance into the 21st century, he is trying to work out a plea bargain, like a defendant in Criminal Court.
His best hope is the G.O.P. There is a case to be made against Bill Clinton, but it can't be made by a partisan mob.